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Monday, April 22, 2013

Vote For Your Favorite Cinderellas!

I'm going to be updating several pages on the SurLaLune main site soon, especially with latest releases and video and perhaps some updated design. Cinderella comes first and I wanted to ask for your help.

On the Cinderella pages, the right hand column features cover images for books, movies, etc. of Cinderella. I will feature new releases in the column and then highlight other popular titles in the remaining space. But I can't decide which ones to highlight since there is an abundance to choose from.

So what are your favorite modern Cinderella retellings in picture books, novels, movies, etc.? No limit on how many you like, just add a comment to this post. I would post some here, but I want fresh results with no prompting by me.

'Ella Enchanted' is the book I consider to have re-introduced me to fairy tales at the age of about 13, having previously thought I had 'grown out' of them. Although the film is OK, the book is far better.

Also, I don't know how popular it is, but I have a soft spot for 'Ever After', the film with Drew Barrymore! I think it's because it has the charm of the medieval buildings and costumes without the childish pastel shades, as well as the unusual addition of da Vinci. I also quite like how it's framed, with the Grimms being summoned to hear the truth. And her costume at the party. OK...I think I like this film more than I realised!!

I love Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted and have read it a number of times. (And I will admit, somewhat to my shame, that the first time I read it, I just picked it up off a friend's bookshelf without reading the back and it wasn't until partway through that I realized it was a Cinderella tale--I was just too busy devouring it to notice!) I don't have much to compare to as Cinderella isn't one of my favorite tales that I constantly lookout for new renditions of, but this book stands up as just a fun, worthy YA read regardless of its fairytale roots (which just make it all the better!) featuring a strong heroine, friendships, and a romantic relationship that goes beyond "he's a handsome prince". (I have never seen the movie version, so this is solely a recommendation for the book.)

I'll give Robin McKinley's Deerskin a callout here as well, though this I've only read once and it is significantly more disturbing than I suspect is the typical Cinderella rewrite. As it takes the darker aspects of the old tale rather than the Disneyized version, it involves rape and incest and the physical and emotional consequences of that, which makes the Cinderella character both vulnerable and hardened on a level I think isn't often touched in fairytale retellings. (Though really, you'll be in a much better position to evaluate that than I am!) Anyway, it's been such a while since I read this one that I shouldn't talk it up too much, I suppose, but I've just recently been getting that tickling feeling of wanting to reread a book, so it's on my mind. :)

I am a Cinderella Buff actually. My favorite chapter book is Ella Enchanted. I have several favorite picture books. Domitilla is my favorite but I also like CinderEdna, Cindy Ellen and Smoky Mountain Rose. I love Bubba the Cowboy Prince, The Irish Cinderlad and Sumorella just because they are boy versions. Do they count, too? Movies I like the Julie Andrews Cinderella and the Disney Cinderella.

I love the film "Ever After" because it expanded the relationship of Danielle (Cinderella) and the Prince and really developed their characters. It was also lots of fun to watch, and the setting was lovely. I also like Tanith Lee's dark version of Cinderella, "When the Clock Strikes," from her collection "Red as Blood." And I enjoy the Philippines's version of Cinderella called "Abadeha" (which you can read at http://www.coedu.usf.edu/culture/Story/Story_Phil_Man.htm ), because in this folk tale, instead of trying to fit into a shoe, the heroine saves the prince. :)

I like the short story "Rough Faced Girl" because she sets out to find her happy ending despite the jeers of others.Novel wise, "Ella Enchanted" because it describes why she is so hyper-obedient.I love the movie "Ever After" because Cinderella and her prince take time to get to know each other over a few days instead of just a few hours.

I don't think my first post went through, so let's try again! I'm another lover of "Ella Enchanted" because it stays true to the spirit of the original Perrault story in terms of time, place, and characters...however, Ella's views are very modern and feminist, which is useful for girls today. I also love "Ever After," probably for the same reasons.

I've always loved Confessions of An Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire. I think it's so clever that he look at the story from the point of view of one of the stepsisters and gave it a little twist at the end. There was a movie of the same name made, but it wasn't as layered as this book. I'm particularly drawn to it because my own blog aims to rework fairy tales that give women a mostly silent role in their own stories. Most of Maguire's works inspired my idea.

As far as movies go, I think Ever After is my favorite because besides putting it in a historical context, the prince has a personality. It made me realize that not only princesses are written as two-dimensional characters in classic fairy tales.

Ella Enchanted, hands down! That's definitely my favorite even with the many, many, many, manymanymany versions I have read or watched. (And I see I'm not the only one!)

Also have a soft spot for Ever After and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and there are some really good ones that have stretched farther away from the original story, like Shadows on the Moon and Bound. Not a big fan of the myriad of modern adaptations, which are overdone to the point of being utterly bland.

I have to agree Ella Enchanted is by far the best retelling of the story. It's such an accessible and delightful read! I also adore a retelling by C.S. Evans with illustrations by Arthur Rackham, it's so antique and beautiful! If I have daughters,(who knows?) these versions would be the ones I'd want them to grow up with!!!

"Ella Enchanted" for me all the way. I read it when I was ten, and I've read it so many times since I can quote parts of it. It was the first book that really got me interested in fairy tale retellings, though I didn't realize this until later. It's just a perfect mix of magic, romance, wry humor, a dash of drama, and fun.

As for movies, I enjoyed "Ever After" but I do wish there were other options out there.

I really like the Cinderella characters in "The Hero's Guide to Saving your Kingdom" by Christopher Healy and "Enchanted" By Alethea Kontis (although those are both really mash-ups of several fairy tales). My favorite Cinderella retelling is probably "Cinder" by Marissa Meyer. I mean what is better than Cinderella leaving her foot (not just her slipper) behind at the ball?

I think Ella Enchanted is the quintessential Cinderella retelling, and it definitely deserves that status. Levine takes all the most important elements of the tale and then expands upon the story in a unique way.Marissa Meyer's Cinder is a very creative retelling and a page-turner.

The children's picture book versions and revisionings of Cinderella stories in modernity are absolutely gorgeous. My very favorites for their beauty and content are The Rough-face Girl by Rafe Martin and illustrated by David Shannon; Ella's Big Chance: A Jazz-Age Cinderella by Shirley Hughes; Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave by Marianna Mayer; Sukey and the Mermaid by Robert D. San Souci; and Fanny's Dream by Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner. Thanks so much for the opportunity to share my favorites - so fun!

My favourite retelling of Cinderella is a very beautiful film I couldn't find in your list. It is called Year of the Fish (2007), directed by David Kaplan (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0872236/). It is dark and contemporary and yet still romantic and hopeful. In fact it made me like the original fairy tale even more after I watched it, even though it is not among my favorite fairy tales.

Cinderella isn't my favorite fairy tale, but my favorite modern retelling of it is Cinder by Meyer. My favorite picture book is Rough-Faced Girl. I also like Kinuko Craft's picture book. I liked Ever After as a film.

Hmmm...this is a tough one. I don't usually read Cinderella tales all that much. I think it's a toss-up between Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister or Ever After. In terms of books, I think I could vote for Cinder, since I never completed Ella Enchanted (as a kid, I wanted to murder her stepsisters!).